Gun Gobind gaio nahin janamu akarth kin

The second last poetical composition in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Gun Gobind gaio nahin janamu akarth kin is a poem of 57 couplets written by Guru Tegh Bahadur. In it Guru Tegh Bahadur criticizes those who are attached to the illusion of the material world (maya, mammon) and have forgotten God, the Guru urges man to remember God at all times.

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God is only one. He is realized with the grace of the True Guru.

 

You have never sung the praises of God and have wasted your birth (human life) in vain.
Nanak says, O mind! Worship God as the fish loves water. (1)

 

Why are you absorbed in poisonous (sinful) deeds?
You do not renounce them even for a moment.
Nanak says, O mind! Repeat the Name of God, so that the noose of death may not strangle you. (2)

 

Youth has passed away in vain; and old age has overpowered the body.
Nanak says, O mind! Repeat the Name of God, the age is passing away. (3)

 

You have become old; but you do not even now realize that the time of death has arrived.
Nanak says, O mad man! Why don’t you worship God. (4)

 

There are wealth, wife and riches and all else, which you deem as your own;
None of these will however be friend and accompany you; believe this to be true, says Nanak. (5)

 

God is the savior of the mean sinners, and Remover of fears and the Master of the helpless.
Says Nanak, know Him and believe that he ever resides with you. (6)

 

You have not loved Him, Who has given to you the human body and wealth.
Nanak says, O mad man! Why do you tremble now as a mean man? (7)

 

God has given you human body, wealth, property, comforts and big houses;
Nanak says, O man! Hear, why don’t you remember God? (8)

 

Only God and none else is the Giver of Comforts;
Nanak says, O mind! Listen by remembering Him, salvation is achieved. (9)

 

O friend! You remember God, by remembering Whom salvation is obtained.
Nanak says, O mind! Listen every time the life is shortening. (10)

 

O clever and wise man! You know that your body is composed of five elements;
Nanak says, believe this that you will blend with that from which you sprang up. (11)

 

True saints loudly proclaim that God resides in all bodies;
Nanak says, O mind! Worship Him and you will swim across the world ocean. (12)

 

One who remains unaffected by joy, grief, greed, mammon and ego;
Is the image of God, O man! Hear this, says Nanak. (13)

 

One who is immune from praise or slander (who does not praise or blame others), and from whom gold and iron are alike;
Nanak says, hear O mind! Such a one must be held to be saved. (14)

 

One who is indifferent to joy and grief and treats an enemy and friend alike;
Nanak says, hear O mind! Such a one must be held to be saved. (15)

 

One who does not terrify others and is not afraid of others;
Should be held as the True Saint, possessing Divine Knowledge, hear O mind! Says Nanak. (16)

 

One who has totally abandoned poisonous and sinful passions (maya) and has donned the true garb of retirement;
Should be held to be a person on whose forehead good destiny is written (is most fortunate), says Nanak. (17)

 

One who has abandoned love for mammon and has renounced all;
Within his heart God resides, hear O mind! Says Nanak. (18)

 

One who has renounced ego and has realized God,
Is saved; believe this to be true O mind! Says Nanak. (19)

 

The God’s Name is the Destroyer of fear and Remover of evil wisdom in this dark age;
He who repeats it, night and day, will succeed in his undertakings, so says Nanak. (20)

 

Utter virtues of God with your tongue and hear His Name with your ears.
O mind! You will thus not be taken to the house of Death says Nanak. (21)

 

The mortal, who abandons selfishness, greed, worldly love and ego;
Shall be himself saved and shall save others also, says Nanak. (22)

 

Treat this world as a dream or a play,
Says Nanak, nothing except God is True and Real in it. (23)

 

Night and day, the mortal roams after riches under the influence of mammon.
Only rare ones, among millions remember God in their hearts, says Nanak. (24)

 

Just as bubbles are formed from water and continuously go on vanishing,
Similarly the world was constructed, hear this O friend, says Nanak. (25)

 

The mortal, blinded by mammon’s intoxication, does not care for anything;
Without repeating God’s name, the noose of death will strangle you. (26)

 

If you want perpetual joy, take God’s shelter.
Hear O man! It is difficult to obtain human body, says Nanak. (27)

 

Foolish and ignorant people hanker after worldly riches;
Their lives are spent in vain, without repeating God’s Name says Nanak. (28)

 

Believe that mortal who night and day worships God, is the image of God.
Take it to be true that there is no difference between God’s devoted saint and God Himself, says Nanak. (29)

 

Mind (man) has been entangled in mammon and forgets God’s Name;
What is the use of human life without repeating God’s Name? Says Nanak. (30)

 

Man, blinded by the intoxication of worldly love does not remember God;
Without worship of God the noose of death will fasten the man, says Nanak. (31)

 

Mortal, in his zeal gets many friends, but none will befriend him in his woe;
O man! Worship God who will help you in the end, says Nanak. (32)

 

Mortal goes on wandering in the cycles of births and deaths and his fear of god of death is not removed;
O man, remember God and then you will reside in the State of Fearlessness says Nanak. (33)

 

I have made many attempts, yet the pride of my mind is not effaced;
I am entangled due to my evil thoughts, O God, protect me says Nanak. (34)

 

Realize that there are three stages of life; childhood, youth and old age;
But all these are spent in vain without worshipping God says Nanak. (35)

 

What you ought to do, you have not done; you are caught in the net of greed.
Your opportunity is now gone, why do you weep now O blind man? Says Nanak. (36)

 

The mind is attached to worldly love and cannot escape from it, O my friend;
Just as a picture painted on a wall does not leave it; says Nanak. (37)

 

Man wants one thing, but a different event happens.
Says Nanak, around the neck of a man who practices deception a rope will be put (noose). (38)

 

Mortal makes attempts to obtain pleasures, but none to obtain misery.
O man! However, whatever pleases God must happen says Nanak. (39)

 

The world goes on begging, God is the Giver of all,
O man! Remember Him and your desires will be fulfilled says Nanak. (40)

 

Why do you entertain false ego? Realize that the world is like a dream.
There is nothing in it which is yours, says Nanak. (41)

 

Man is proud of his body which will perish in a moment my friend!
The man who sings God’s praises will conquer the world (mammon) says Nanak. (42)

 

Realize that one in whose hear exists the remembrance of God, has obtained Salvation;
There is no difference between such a man and God, says Nanak. (43)

 

In whose heart there is no love for God,
Consider him as a hog or a dog, says Nanak. (44)

 

Just as a dog does not leave his master’s house,
Similarly one should worship God with single mind says Nanak. (45)

 

Going on pilgrimages and acts of fasting or charity, when ego sticks to ones heart;
Are useless, bearing no fruit, like an elephant taking bath and then throwing mud on himself, says Nanak. (46)

 

Your head shakes, your legs waiver, your eyes have lost light;
This is your condition, yet you are not attached to God’s love, says Nanak. (47)

 

I have been treated the world as my own but none is ever lasting friend of another;
Only love for God is ever lasting, keep this in your heart says Nanak. (48)

 

Realize O friend! That the world structure is all perishable;
It is not permanent, like a wall of sand says Nanak. (49)

 

Ram left, also Ravan left this world along with their large families;
Nothing is permanent, the world is like a dream says Nanak. (50)

 

Be worried only regarding that which is unexpected;
This is the way of the world that nothing is permanent says Nanak. (51)

 

What is born may die today or tomorrow;
Sing praises of God and throw away all entanglements says Nanak. (52)

 

Dhora (style and name of couplet)

When man leaves God’s worship, his spiritual power is lost and he cannot find any way to liberate himself from the chains of mammon.
Says Nanak, O God, You are my shelter, kindly help me as You helped the elephant. (53)

 

When man gets God’s shelter his spiritual power comes, the chains of mammon are loosened and then all his methods succeed.
Says Nanak, O God, everything is in Your Hand, You alone can help me. (54)

 

All friends and associates abandon you and none sticks to you till the end.
Says Nanak, that is such a calamity, God is the only support. (55)

 

Only God’s Name, the True Guru and Gobind Guru (God) will accompany in the end such a true devotee,
Who remembers God’s name and follows the True Gurus advice says Nanak. (56)

 

When God’s Name, to which nothing is equal takes residence in mans heart;
Then by remembering it, all pains and troubles vanish and he obtains Your Sight. (57)